EWL’s web framework now includes some new, .NET-Core-compatible (i.e. without Web Forms dependencies) form controls: TextControl, EmailAddressControl, and TelephoneNumberControl. Similar to the new HTML editors and hidden-field component, these take most of their parameters via Setup objects to avoid duplicate parameters in (1) the form-item-getter methods that EWL generates for database columns and page query parameters, and (2) the new DataValue extension methods, which make it easier to create form controls for ephemeral data within a page, such as a search box. The new form controls follow accessibility best practices, for example by supporting proper labeling via the HTML label element and using correct input modes on mobile devices.

We’ve also reimplemented page “autofocus”, which lets you specify the location of keyboard focus when a page loads in the browser. The old implementation depended upon Web-Forms Control IDs, and had a couple of significant design problems that we observed over the years. First, to specify focus on a control, the page needed a reference to the control’s ID. This worked well for simple pages, but in complex pages with many nested components, it took a lot of ceremony to get a control reference all the way up the call stack to the page level. Second, the only way to override the focused control after a post back was to specify the control’s ID before the post back. This is impossible if the control doesn't exist yet! Our new design is based on wrapper components, called autofocus regions, and fixes these flaws. Read more in the release notes.